In both 2022 and 2021, the final conference schedule was released on October 11. I seem to remember this happening much earlier in prior years--as in mid summer. But I guess there are a lot of last minute arrangements related to TV etc. that push this process out until just weeks before the season begins. And no big deal for conference play since it is still months away.
In 2022 the non conference schedule was released on September 6, in 2021 it was released on September 1. It does seem as if our non conference schedule is now late, although we are learning about many of the games via other school's schedules. I wonder what the hold-up is? Is Tara having problems getting teams to come out to Maples to play us? We have heard that it has been getting harder and harder to do that. Not all coaches see the merit of putting a loss to Stanford on their team early in the season. Also, my guess is that we are no longer willing to schedule many out-of-conference home-and-aways given the excessive travel that is around the corner for us.
It will be interesting to see how it all sorts out. And even more interesting to see who plays and who has most improved. Here is my pie-in-the-sky wish list:
1) Jump shows much better facility making her own shot, moving left or right and shooting treys accurately after doing so.
2) Lepolo hits jumpers or treys or slashes to pick up free throws--and one way or the other starts scoring 10 points a game.
3) Brink returns with confidence in her jump shot and shows the ability to drag defenders to the perimeter--while preserving the improvements she made last year on fouling and scoring inside.
4) Iriafen shows all-around growth, particularly by becoming a better rebounder and defender and a steady presence inside. Special emphasis on rebounding. Did I say rebounding? I'd like to see her be in position to put every Brink miss back in the basket, and we need her to replace a lot of Jones's defensive rebounding.
5) Demetre's defense markedly improves. We want her offense on the court without having a defensive liability at the other end.
6) Bosgana takes advantage of greater trust and minutes to become a major inside/outside scoring threat, finishing at the basket and draining threes with equal facility. She can be the next McPhee.
7) One of the freshman--most probably Ogden--adjusts to college quickly and is starting by conference play.
8) Tara and the coaches show creativity in offensive and/or defensive schemes, and adjust our system much better to our players than was true last year. What the new schemes should be, I don't know, but I want to see Tara the master tactician again, with answers at the ready.
In 2022 the non conference schedule was released on September 6, in 2021 it was released on September 1. It does seem as if our non conference schedule is now late, although we are learning about many of the games via other school's schedules. I wonder what the hold-up is? Is Tara having problems getting teams to come out to Maples to play us? We have heard that it has been getting harder and harder to do that. Not all coaches see the merit of putting a loss to Stanford on their team early in the season. Also, my guess is that we are no longer willing to schedule many out-of-conference home-and-aways given the excessive travel that is around the corner for us.
It will be interesting to see how it all sorts out. And even more interesting to see who plays and who has most improved. Here is my pie-in-the-sky wish list:
1) Jump shows much better facility making her own shot, moving left or right and shooting treys accurately after doing so.
2) Lepolo hits jumpers or treys or slashes to pick up free throws--and one way or the other starts scoring 10 points a game.
3) Brink returns with confidence in her jump shot and shows the ability to drag defenders to the perimeter--while preserving the improvements she made last year on fouling and scoring inside.
4) Iriafen shows all-around growth, particularly by becoming a better rebounder and defender and a steady presence inside. Special emphasis on rebounding. Did I say rebounding? I'd like to see her be in position to put every Brink miss back in the basket, and we need her to replace a lot of Jones's defensive rebounding.
5) Demetre's defense markedly improves. We want her offense on the court without having a defensive liability at the other end.
6) Bosgana takes advantage of greater trust and minutes to become a major inside/outside scoring threat, finishing at the basket and draining threes with equal facility. She can be the next McPhee.
7) One of the freshman--most probably Ogden--adjusts to college quickly and is starting by conference play.
8) Tara and the coaches show creativity in offensive and/or defensive schemes, and adjust our system much better to our players than was true last year. What the new schemes should be, I don't know, but I want to see Tara the master tactician again, with answers at the ready.